What If Yachts Are Economic Infrastructure?

Superyachts are often talked about as floating lifestyle accessories, but the reality is more concrete: they are long-lived economic engines that keep paying communities back year after year. From the Palm Beach show floor, host Kristina Heberts sits down with Robert van Tol, Executive Director of SYBAss, the Super Yacht Builders Association, to unpack what the builders see that most outsiders miss.

They dig into what SYBAss does for custom and semi-custom yacht builders worldwide and why scale matters when you’re discussing standards, supply chains, and representation. Robert shares key takeaways from an economic impact study focused on yachts over 40 meters, covering the full yacht life cycle: new build, operations, and the rising wave of maintenance and refit. The pair talks about how yacht operations drive recurring local spending through crews, services, and yacht tourism, and why refit growth is a predictable result of the industry’s strong production over the last two decades. If you care about the blue economy, maritime jobs, or working waterfronts, the numbers are hard to ignore.

The conversation turns to the workforce challenge: superyacht building depends on specialized, high-skill craftsmanship that many schools don’t teach, making apprenticeships and training programs essential. On the policy side, Robert explains SYBAss’s approach to advocacy at the IMO, where regulations built for commercial shipping can create unintended obstacles for yachts with totally different operating patterns. They close with what makes a boat show truly work for builders and how changing buyers are already pushing yacht design forward years before the public ever sees it.

Subscribe, share this with someone who thinks yachting is “just luxury,” and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

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Transcript

Welcome From Palm Beach

SPEAKER_02 0:01

Welcome to the World's Way podcast. We're here at the Plumbing University of O 2026, and I'm here with my good friend and colleague Robert Vontol, Executive Director of the CBAST, which is Super Yacht Builders Association. Welcome. This is a great opportunity and a wonderful opportunity to talk to you. Thank you so much for here.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

So this is exciting, Seabast. Tell everybody about Seabast and what makes this show significant for your membership and congratulations on the new position.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Thank you very much. CBAS is the Super Yacht Builders Association founded in 2007 to look after the interest of the builders of large yachts around the world. So customs, semi-customs segment. They felt underrepresented at the time by their national associations alone, and they they continue to meet each other in in uh obviously where where the business is taking place. And these are global players, so they also need global representation.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

And they represent, you know, a large percentage of, for example, the manufacturing of yachts. What what what percentage of that is?

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Um so over 120 feet, they are uh 56 mark market share. And yeah, when you go up in length and and especially gross tonnets, so volume, yeah, we go up to 75% uh market share only with 24 shipyards.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

So this is a core group of of builders that are really um I I hate to use a a corny phrase, but the movers and shakers of the industry, but really set the tone, the direction, and and a lot of the even maybe perhaps regulatory environments for some of the for some of the industry, so to speak. So that's something we'll get into. But um how many of those those builders are here in Palm Beach?

SPEAKER_00 1:40

So Palm Beach is has this year 17 exhibitors.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

And uh we had a member meeting this morning uh for that reason, but another four members came uh to visit the show and the rest was online. So we had a full house with a hybrid meeting.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Wow, that's very important though. That that means you had that many people feel the need to travel to this show, and this show is that significant.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Yeah, yeah, Palm Beach has grown over the years, of course, and it members feel their the the market is here. It's uh it's different than in in Fort Lauderdale and Miami. So it's interesting how in South Florida still you have different markets almost, and uh they felt that their target audience is uh is is well uh visiting this show, and of course the efforts of the the show organizers uh uh are greatly appreciated to accommodate the members with great services. So, yeah, this is uh this is currently the the the show in South Florida that has our uh as our focus.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

So, you know, it it's interesting because you do talk about how even in South Florida we have markets, so there you know there is an economic impact study that that covers the tri-county area, which would be Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami Dade, and so somewhat as an industry, we we capture the economic impact as a tri-county area, but you're right, there are individual markets.

The Superyacht Industry By The Numbers

SPEAKER_02 2:56

Now you guys have recently also done an economic impact study. Can you can you share a little about that in general terms? I know for South Florida, we talk about 138,000 jobs and an $18 billion economic impact. Um, without sharing necessarily specific numbers, what were some of the key indicators that you found in doing your economic impact study?

SPEAKER_00 3:16

Yeah. Well, here is of course a very strong marine industry, so it's also uh let's say a segment below the large yacht segment. We have been uh our scope was above uh 40 meters in in length, and in that way, not only the build side, so we we haven't isolated just the construction, um, but also the the other parts of the life cycle of a yacht, so the obviously the operation, that's where the biggest impact is. So the total we calculated was 54 billion on an annual basis for the entire industry. That's both direct and indirect, and that indirect is very interesting, I'll come back to that in a second. Um, so half of that is operations, so fleet, um, and in that way also tourism. So that's all money going into those local areas that um yachts are are appearing and visiting. Um, so in that way it's it's definitely part of the blue economy, and these all these regional locations that are welcoming yachts is that's how they should be perceived, like oh, these are all supporters of our local community, of our local economy, and and the small shops that we have here. But then that's of course during the lifetime of a yacht, there's also maintenance and refit. So that that's another share of 5.6 billion, but that's growing because uh in the last 20-25 years there has been a significant amount of yachts being built. So we're a relatively young industry uh speak, relatively speaking. Uh but that will come with a wave of refit. So that that that let's say increase over the years of the of the production will translate automatically into refit, and those yachts are not disappearing, they will continue to be refitted. So these are repetitive uh economic uh drivers. And the average of a yacht um that is in the in the fleet is nine million on uh that's of course an average, but on an annual basis. So every yacht that's going to be added to the fleet will be another nine million every single year, and the the let's say life of a yacht is of course undefined, it's 30, 40, and plus years. So that keeps on coming. So it's the the gift that keeps on giving.

SPEAKER_02 5:25

You know, that is that is right, and I think that people sometimes don't understand, and and we can fall prey to that as well. That you see we people view um yachting as lifestyle and and luxury and wealth and and opulence, which it is all of that, but there's also an industry behind it as you're talking about, and the economic impacts of these boats, wherever ports of call they are, like you're mentioning, the maintenance that can't be excluded from that economic impact, and whatever cities they go to, and the jobs that are provided and the provisions, and and again, as you're saying, on an annual basis, this is continued. Every one of these yachts is a is a corporation, so to speak, that that has an operating expense and and needs constant maintenance. And again, we're putting these vessels through through weather and through um you know through water, and and they they need a lot more maintenance than necessarily a building that's sitting, you know, properly on land. So um I think that that's a significant point.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Yeah, absolutely. And the part that missed in my sum-up was of course the new build. Okay. That's 20 billion uh on an annual basis, so that's uh more than 30% of the total. Um, and the interesting there is a multiplier effect, okay. Which means that if you you uh produce one euro of value, it multiplies by another 1.8. And that brings yachting as yacht building, yacht construction as an industry, as one of the top uh industries in terms of uh multiplier effect, which is very important to probably tell outside of yachting.

SPEAKER_02 6:55

I agree, that's interesting. That's the first time I've heard a statistic like that. That is something that other industries should pay attention to.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

Yeah, and also obviously the um yeah, communities that that uh have yacht construction in their region, um, local politics, governments, regulators, so that they are aware of what's what this activity actually means. And there's a difference between direct uh turnover at the shipyards and all that trickle-down effect into the ecosystem that is all around these shipyards that is even bigger, their turnover is bigger than the direct uh turnover of the shipyard. So you see that the whole supply chain is is so important and in that way also existing because the shipyards are in where they are. Um and with customers uh buying yachts, it's it's that way a dissemination of that wealth that is perhaps with a uh let's say a small group in the world, but in through our industry, it's a f fabulous dissemination of economics.

Skills Shortages And Craftsmanship Pipelines

SPEAKER_02 7:54

So your Super Yacht Builder Association members are from countries all over the world, including the United States. Yeah. I I would imagine though that regardless of their location, they have some similar challenges in you know um, let's say hiring, labor, um, generational. Is is that is that uh true? I'm asking somewhat. I'm I'm making an assumption, but I would imagine that some of their challenges are similar.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

Yeah, I haven't heard a single ship here that that has no problem with finding the labor that they're looking for because it's high skilled, um, it's specialized, it's craftsmanship, uh, in that way there's always a shortage. And that's the nice thing about this industry as well, that that kind of craftsmanship is appreciated and preserved, perhaps in areas that normally only economically speaking would fade out and go to other places, um, like like that happens in shipping. But yacht construction is is definitely uh preserving that part as well, and that's also something to be very proud of, but it needs to be uh let's say maintained and grown as well. So you need to attract the new talents, the the the next craftsmen to consider uh being a boat builder, and in that way, all let's say these numbers that we're uh collecting and sort of turning into an advocacy campaign, like you know, yacht construction is let's be honest, the coolest place to work in our industry, and and even people considering working in our industry to to pick up on that and to to feel welcome and to feel let's say there's also an opportunity to grow because it's such a specialism, most schools don't teach that. So there are shipyards that have apprenticeship programs to actually teach and educate, grow their their own workforce, and and that's fabulous. And so, in that way, it's even part of a sort of educational system. And those are the stories that don't get out so often, but that's something that we would like to show more of. And I think advocacy is perhaps a bit of an American term, but I like it because you're proud, uh you stand for your industry. I think yachting in the past tried perhaps a bit to stay under the radar, but we don't succeed in that anyway, so you might as well stand tall and be proud of what you are and show the numbers and show what this industry is capable of, and especially also being part of the future. So innovation has always been a key driver, and yeah, yachting in that way can be the Formula One you know, being being innovative and it could trickle down in either the wider marine or even shipping industry or outside outside, even. So there are great examples. Mostly they are the exception, but let's let's do our best to make them more and more the rule.

SPEAKER_02 10:37

I agree that you say advocacy is American, and I I think it's interesting that um what I what I see a lot um that the American yachting industry is advocating for is uh either regulations that support growth include the yachting industry or remove regulations that are that are barriers to our industry. And I feel that in the US sometimes we get um grouped together with, let's say, a commercial shipping. Well, commercial shipping is not the same as recreational yachting. Um commercial builders are not necessarily the same as yacht builders. Um there's a lot more expertise and and and specialty, but I know right now in the US there's um an advocacy talking about the president introduced a maritime action plan, and and there are marine prosperity zones that they're trying to do in the U.S. to support the refit of these boats that are coming here, as you mentioned, that the majority of the buyers for these vessels are American, the American market is important, but we also need to be prepared for the yachts that are being built and coming this way to understand those systems and be able to perform those refits. So it's very important that we do work together and that we're inviting for those yachts to be everywhere around the world. And so you say advocacy is important. Is CBAS you know starting in an advocacy or really focusing on advocacy in the future and making sure that their builders have those obstacles removed or creating ways to make paths?

SPEAKER_00 12:01

Yeah, absolutely. So uh CBAS in the in the last 18 years has been very strong in uh lobby activity, uh mostly with the IMO, so the International Maritime Organization, that's global uh legislation for shipping, and yachts fall naturally under that, uh, but are of course completely incomparable. So yachts they they sail on average 10% of the time, another 30-35% they are at anchor, and the rest they sit in the marina. So they're stationary 90% of the time. Well, if a commercial ship is still a bit of a lot of people.

SPEAKER_02 12:32

That's a really good point that a lot of people probably don't understand. That's actually that's a starting point.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

And if a commercial ship is 90% stationary, it doesn't mean a very good business. So but the sh the rules are being developed for those ships and applying to yachts. Um, not that the regulators want to do a bad job, so it's on us to inform them, show them stand tall.

SPEAKER_02 12:50

I was just saying.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

This is how yachting operates and how it works, and let us help you develop good and uh workable legislation. And that's that's more advocacy than lobbying because lobbying it mostly comes across as oh, you try to put the brakes on, you're against. We like to be proactive, come up with solutions ourselves. We are the experts in the industry, so we know best. The goal is definitely uh to commit to or even beyond, why not? Um we're yachting in the end. So that's that's another spirit, and I think we will be appreciated for for that kind of mindset to come up with ideas and almost lobby in favor rather than lobby against.

SPEAKER_02 13:30

Well, and and you're right, lobbying does have a negative connotation, especially um in political climates, regardless of where where you're living right now. But I'm a firm believer though that you it is our job. You know, if legislators aren't advocating on your behalf, it's because that's your fault. Yeah. Um you have to explain they're your industry and we have to let them know how they can be helpful. And I have yet to meet a legislator, even for yachting, um, that once they really understand the economic impact, the industry, the jobs, uh and again in the yachting industry, um, the jobs they're paid, you know, on average, I know in the US um 42% more, sometimes it's between 42 and 52 percent higher than other industries. So we, you know, we are we are their constituents, and so I firmly believe that educating legislators on our industry, they're almost always happy to be helpful. I know that there's some uh legislators here that um, you know, even uh an Italian builder is hosting an event for for an American legislator just to let them know and understand and see. We build these boats, but we bring them here, we bring them to your district, this is what they need. And that and and it just makes it so clear. So we I I'm so happy to see that your members, even in the US, are advocating for the industry that benefits all of us, and and that's true leadership. So congratulations.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

Thank you. Well, it's a very global industry, uh, yachts are global citizens, so in that way, yeah, all these hubs, they are they are part of it. And um it's an ecosystem that also cannot do without. So Europe cannot do without the US hub, and and vice versa. So that's also not to underestimate. We're it's not competing re competing regions, it's part of the the service to the end customer and to the yachts that that need to be complementary to each other and not there's no competition.

SPEAKER_02 15:15

Is there an upcoming challenge that that you're that you know that your members, it's very important, you know, what what is a challenge that's out there that collectively your membership would like to work through? Or is there one that you're not already working on? I know I'm catching you flat footed on a question like this. That's a fun part about a podcast. Um I will say, for example, on the US side, I talked about these marine prosperity zones. The the goal is to to make sure that those are including um yachting and um you know protecting working waterfronts and making sure that the infrastructure stays for yachts. You know, people waterfront is is a commodity that people could turn into condos or restaurants, and we want to make sure that they're still working shipyards.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Yeah. Are there any legislative uh well that's that's very local, yeah. Um that that there are other associations, especially national bodies that that do a great job there. Um we we believe we are complementary on a global level, so that's not something that we uh engage in, but certainly uh our numbers should be known there too, so they can agree. They can refer. Like this is our local impact, but look, this is part of the the global impact. So 100%. It's it's also understood that uh it's not just only the activity here, it's connected to activity around the world or other yachting hubs. So hopefully then the local um decision makers also understand that it's not just those couple of square square feet.

SPEAKER_02 16:40

I know um so so here you said you have 17 members and you have uh an additional four that

Why Boat Shows Must Stay Buyer-First

SPEAKER_02 16:47

that visited. What are what are the next um destinations for the for these members? Where where would they be going next for the display of of a show?

SPEAKER_00 16:55

Well, uh normally in spring there's also the Dubai show, but we know that uh that region is in uh great turmoil, so um the show has been postponed to November. Okay. Um now very closely to flips, uh unfortunately. So it's the calendar for yacht events is very full. You can you can be every weekend, you can be somewhere or every week. Um so therefore it it's yeah, part of the the member um um program that we have that that we say okay, where do we where do we focus? In which basket do we put our eggs, so to say. And everybody's free to go wherever. So I I just want to mention that. But as a as a collective body, as an association to provide extra services and to to focus on, we have one uh show per region endorsed.

SPEAKER_02 17:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

So that's Monaco in in Europe, that's uh Dubai uh for the Middle East, it's now Palm Beach here.

SPEAKER_02 17:48

I was gonna say, congratulations, wonderful. That's great that that's here. And what was the other one? You said there were four?

SPEAKER_00 17:54

Uh that's a that's a trade association uh that's a trade show in in Amsterdam, okay. Uh but that's a not a consumer show. So there's also the the focus of the members, of course, mostly on the B2C shows, and it that's also important for the shows organizers to realize we need to attract the customer. As soon as it's too busy on the docks, as soon as the let's say the shipyards that are there to sell new yachts and to trickle down, as I said at the beginning, we need to keep feeding that new build. So if if there's distraction, if the customers don't want to come to the show anymore, you're investing in some in a sort of B2B ecosystem that that's not where you're here for. Literally, there's the wrong staff of the shipyards at the booth to talk to suppliers. So we need to be very sure that the client feels welcome and is able to go on the boats in a in a quiet atmosphere in order to keep feeding our economic impact system and our industry. And that's something that yeah, we would like to keep emphasizing towards show organizers. Look, everything good for the builders is good for everyone. If the builders start you know being distracted or go somewhere else, literally, do you think the suppliers will still come? So and those are these are the areas where where the customers are.

SPEAKER_02 19:08

As a supplier, that would be a challenge.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

Exactly. So and and these are customer areas, and and the trade can can perhaps be somewhere else, but uh that doesn't need to happen outside, perhaps. So there are infrastructure that can do that more uh effectively economically. So when we're in Palm Beach, for all the right reasons, if you look here, this is a consumer show and it should stay a consumer show.

SPEAKER_02 19:30

Excellent.

How New Buyers Change Yacht Design

SPEAKER_02 19:31

Well, one of the other things I I had a pleasure of visiting one of your members and they were doing a presentation and talking about how the buyer is changing. And I I I found the presentation and I've been hearing it, or you read about it in the publications, but really how so many of the designs are changing, the the buyers are are uh more exploratory and how they want to feel their yacht, that the that they want to have the entire upper deck, let's say, be the main stateroom and not have it be the pilot house and they're they're somewhere below. Uh are your members talking about that, how the consumers are changing and and how the boat design is changing. That's gotta be, it's almost like we were talking about refit renaissance yesterday. I feel like maybe there's a build renaissance as well, that the the consumers are changing. Are you are you hearing that a lot with your members?

SPEAKER_00 20:17

Um yeah, I mean that they they meet each other all the time everywhere, so in that way they they're probably also uh personal talks. Uh in our say member meetings, it's that's not specifically being discussed because it's it's known. I mean every yacht is is unique, especially in the semi-full custom. Um that that's the DNA of our industry. Uh so in that way all customer wishes can be um uh accommodated and and the impossible takes a day longer. That that's mostly the the spirit of of the that segment of the market. Um what you do see is is of course um a clientele that perhaps didn't have this slow growth of wealth. So there's a different way of spending, there's a different way of living and enjoying, and there's as you said, more of an experience perhaps than an asset ownership kind of uh drive. And yeah, therefore you need to keep reinventing things, but also what's coming out at the shipyards was designed for you know three, four, five years ago. And so if we see oh this is really you know unique, this is new, this is innovative, yeah. But this was already thought of three, four. You know what?

SPEAKER_02 21:30

That's a very good point.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

So the what's currently on the drawing board is already further than that again. So that's very exciting, and uh every time yeah there's news coming out about those concepts that are actually being built, or uh of course the new launches that that's what excite everyone. And that's also what what uh is it is attractive to the to the business. So the the new yachts are always the ones that are uh inspiring for the next.

SPEAKER_02 21:54

Well, I I have just found you know, I I love that point and I love ha get to have these conversations because you're right. When we see a new yacht that we say, oh, you know, this innovation and and the way that this was was built, you're right, it was already thought of five years ago and developed and then built in three years and it, you know, now here it is, and they had already had that innovation long before. So, you know, that that that's a perspective that I, you know, not as a yacht builder, but that that you bring to bring to everyone. And I think that that's the that's so important. And what I get the sense from you is that um CBAS wants to be known, that these builders want to stand tall and proud for for who they are and what they represent, and they're such beautiful, um beautiful vessels, but also just beautiful businesses that have been around for generations and can really tell the stories.

CBAS Mission And How To Connect

SPEAKER_02 22:41

And uh I'm proud that you're sharing that and and making that very open to the consumers and and anybody that really wants to know how do they reach out to is it cbass.org. Can you learn about um the builders and what the association stands for?

SPEAKER_00 22:53

That's exactly the domain name, cbaz.org.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

There you go, I got it.

SPEAKER_00 22:57

Um no, and and we would love to engage with anyone. I mean, we of course we focus on the builders, but this is an ecosystem, and builders rely on that ecosystem. And what I just said about the attendance of the show, it doesn't mean you know that these are not co-creations. So the co-makers are are super important, but that's for the make, and and even those innovations that we then see see the daylight of uh when they get launched, of course, there's the whole supply chain involved as well, it's not just design and build. So in that way, we all celebrate and we have reason to celebrate every new launch in that way and be proud of and and what knowing and working on the next. So in that way, yeah, that's what CBAS wants to stand for. It's it's not about CBAS, it's about the members and it's about yacht construction. So our association doesn't matter. We we're you know in the back supporting and and uh uh giving the right attention among different groups of stakeholders to to the builders and the ecosystem around them.

SPEAKER_02 23:50

I was gonna say I think the key is that the ecosystem and CBAS is very critical to that ecosystem and and recognizes its place and is supportive of the whole industry. Thank you for being here today, Robert. Thank you for sitting with me and good luck with all your future endeavors.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

Thanks, Christy. Good luck to you too.

SPEAKER_02 24:06

Thanks for joining us. Make sure you subscribe to the Wards Way podcast. We're just getting started.